F1 car history provided the inspiration for the naming of the McLaren MP4-12C, the new sports car revealed by the company today.

The car shares the same naming convention used by the team’s F1 cars. It falls between McLaren’s 1997 MP4-12 (which won three Grands Prix) and the 1998 MP4-13 (which won both world championship titles).

This is probably because of the ‘brake steer’ technology fitted to the car, which is related to the same innovation which appeared on the 1997 and 1998 McLaren F1 cars. It was banned by the FIA early in 1998.

Brake steer applies the brakes to the inside rear wheel during high-speed cornering to reduce understeer. On the F1 cars this was operated by an extra brake pedal, but on the MP4-12C the system is electronic.

The car is powered by a 600bhp 3.8-litre V8 engine built by McLaren, making it an all-McLaren production. Its predecessor, the McLaren F1, used an engine supplied by BMW.

It also has a Formula 1-style seamless shift gearbox but does not have the distinctive central driving position of the McLaren F1.

The MP4-12C is seen as the successor to the F1 road car, designed in 1993 by Gordon Murray and Peter Stevens. Murray is not involved in the new project and is developing a new supercar design of his own, which he says will not rival the performance of the F1. He is also currently working on a compact, low-emissions city car called the T25.

The MP4-12C has been Ron Dennis’s project for the road car division since he stepped down from the race team earlier this year and the company will build around 1,000 per year. Now more than ever, McLaren is becoming a rival for Ferrari off the track as well as on it.

Yea, the Front fascia is alright but I disliked everything from the A Pillar back on the 458, especially around the hips of the car, they just looked weird with the line on the door and rear arch being independent of each other and made the greenhouse seem oddly large.

Here with the McLaren, we see a pretty standard fare in the design of the Midship Engined Supercar. While the 458 can’t really be seen as related to anything (except maybe the Autobacs Garaiya) the McLaren looks like a half dozen cars to come out in the last decade, three prominently pop to mind are the Carrera GT, Ascari KZ-1, and Saleen S7.

Now it’s not to say it’s not pretty in it’s own right, but it’s hardly impressive or unique in the styling department.

I always found that ironic, that the McLaren F1 car paraded around the Tech Center is powered by a now major rival.
The F1 car has its own innovative braking system, a series of fans suck the car into the ground under heavy braking.

I always found that ironic, that the McLaren F1 car paraded around the Tech Center is powered by a now major rival.

Could it possibly be the reason why McLaren have built their own engine for mp4-12c? Do they see Mercedes as their rivals somewhere in the future? Bigbadderboom told me that Mahle was bulding the v8 engine for them at their plant at Northampton. But i don’t see anything on their website.

It is very beautiful and I am a big Mclaren fan, but I wonder about the possibility of their road car ever being in the same league of popularity and celebrity that ferrari has attained. Also and I hate to talk about colour, but they need to design a trademark like ferrari has with their maranello red, or yellow. Otherwise it just ends up looking like it could be mistaken for a Lotus! Is the orange harking back to the old days Mclaren days…if so it makes sense. But the colour they have used is not appealing.

It was a disappointment when I took a look at it. Road cars always have something in their design that tells something about it to the eyes of a petrolhead. The F1 told it was a monster, had muscles and can corner exceptionally, the Camaro tells it is like a total muscular body builder. This….. nein, just like a wannabe car. But 3.8 producing 600 hp is too awesome, wonder how many super/turbos it has and rpm it should attain, being Ron’s project, if it needs some 8-9 rpm, it won’t entertain me.

It looks ok, you can deffinatly see some design links to the original F1. square headlights, body layout and dimention, nose, backside. I am confident that it will out perform the 458, and im sure that mclaren have every intention of creating a better car, ive heard that it will be up there with the 599gtb.

this shot of the car looks different to other pics ive seen, other pics show a more angular design, particulary around the side intakes and the rear lights, but overall I expect this to be a very, very good car.

According to one magazine I read (but I cannot remember which one) the MP4-12C will only be one of a range of cars, so it will be interesting to see if the keep an F1 ‘family’ likeness, or if each one will be styled differently.
I am interested by the fact the McLaren are building their own engines. Maybe as MP4-19b says, they are keeping clear of any future clashes with Mercedes, which is odd considering the deals that must be in place already between them and AMG/Ilmor for the current F1 racing engines.

I preferred the Ferrari 458 Italia, but that said neither are real beauties imo. I think it’s the front of the mclaren (it reminds me of a Tesla :S what I just don't care about, rest is alright though. Though tbh if I had either I'd rather drive in them than look at them anyway.

I like the look of it, but I don’t like the name MP4-12C. Using McLaren’s usual naming system the name MP4-12C would be used for a development of the 1997 Formula 1 car MP4-12, just like the 2003 car MP4-17D was a development of the 2002 MP4-17.

In one of the links already provided it has this to say about the name

The MP4 bit is the chassis designation of all McLaren Formula 1 cars since 1981 – harking back to the merger from Ron Dennis’s Project 4 organisation. The twelve refers to McLaren’s internal benchmarking system for rating its own cars and rivals, ranking power, weight, efficiency and so forth. The C apparently refers to carbon, although we wonder if it shouldn’t stand for coupé as there will be a roadster MP4-12 too.

I thought McLaren would have come up with a similar but new naming system as they intend produce several different cars in years to come. I didn’t think there was that much wrong with P11, the car’s original codename. By the way does anyone know how they came up with P11, and if it was something like Project 11 what were the first 10 projects?